House Republicans block vote on LGBT protections after Orlando shooting

House Republicans are yet again blocking the passage of an amendment barring federal contractors from discriminating against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity — this time by refusing to allow it to come to vote. The same amendment, proposed by New York Representative Sean Patrick Maloney, has been attached to two previous bills, both of which were quashed by Republicans: the first failed to pass after anti-gay Republicans strong-armed their colleagues into changing their votes at the last minute, and the second collapsed a few weeks later.

This third bill was slated to come up for a vote this week, The Hillreports. But the House Rules Committee failed to green-light it for a vote Tuesday night. This time, the timing is significant. Maloney and his supporters argued that passing the amendment in the aftermath of the Orlando shooting, in which a lone-wolf gunman murdered 48 people at a gay club, would show solidarity with the victims.

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ORLANDO, USA - JUNE 13: Pictures of one of the massacre victims left at a make shift memorial at Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando, USA on June 13, 2016. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

ORLANDO, USA - JUNE 13: Pictures of one of the massacre victims left at a make shift memorial at Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando, USA on June 13, 2016. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

People wave rainbow flags and hold portraits on the Place de la Comedie in Montpellier on June 13, 2016 as they pay homage to the victims of a shooting at a gay nighclub in Orlando. / AFP / SYLVAIN THOMAS (Photo credit should read SYLVAIN THOMAS/AFP/Getty Images)

Since he was a boy, Anthony Luis Laureano Disla loved to dance. Early Sunday morning, he was dancing and laughing with his friends at Pulse nightclub in Orlando when a gunman stormed and shot him. Laureano Disla was 25. His obituary is linked in our bio. #PulseShooting #OrlandoUnited #PrayForOrlando #OrlandoStrong

Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon moved from Puerto Rico to Vero Beach, longtime friend Daniel Gmys-Casiano said, and was immediately promoted to manager at a shoe store. He was a protector, confidant and hero, Gmys-Casiano said. Wilson-Leon died in the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando. He was 37. His obituary is linked in our bio. #PulseShooting #OrlandoUnited #PrayForOrlando #OrlandoStrong

Enrique L. Rios left his home in New York to spend the weekend celebrating a friend's birthday in Orlando. He was killed in the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub Sunday. He was 25. His obituary is linked in our bio. #PulseShooting #OrlandoUnited #PrayForOrlando #OrlandoStrong

To Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, good living was all about looking, smelling and feeling his best, loved ones said. He and his longtime partner, Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, were together at Pulse nightclub early Sunday, and both were among the victims who died in the shooting. Perez was 35. His obituary is linked in our bio. #PulseShooting #OrlandoUnited #PrayForOrlando #OrlandoStrong

"It's hard to imagine that any act that is so horrific could lead to anything positive," he said. "But if we were going to do anything, it would be a very positive step to say that discrimination has no place in our law and to reaffirm the president's actions in this area. Seems to me a pretty basic thing to do."

He compared his legislation with laws passed after the shooting at a historically African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina, restricting the use of the Confederate flag symbol. "They also responded by acting and by recognizing that symbols and language matter," he said. "Because hate has no place in our flags, in our workplace, or in our country. And it should have no place in federal law."

House leadership's decision to postpone the vote on Maloney's amendment came the same day Democrats protested Congress's failure to pass gun-control measures following the shooting. After House Speaker Paul Ryan called for a moment of silence for the victims, many Democrats walked out or loudly chanted, "Where's the bill?" "The moment of silence is an act of respect and we supported that, but it is not a license to do nothing," Representative Nancy Pelosi said at the time. "And Republicans have afforded it that power."